4 January, Kathmandu. The decision of the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) to grant the right to operate the official franchise cricket tournament to the controversial Indian company Seven Three Sports was controversial from the beginning. The first agreement signed in January 2077 was passed last year with some amendments.
The commercial and strategic partner of the tournament, Jatin Ahuwalia, the owner of Seven Three Sports, suddenly went to India when the T20 league was being held in Nepal. Can is angry that he reached India on Monday and refused to return to Nepal citing security reasons. CAN President Chatur Bahadur Chand has said that they have reached the moment of breaking the agreement with Seven Three. It is Kan’s understanding that Jatin fled to India for the purpose of not paying the amount as per the agreement.
CAN has signed an agreement with Jatin’s Seven Three Sports for 8 years. According to the agreement, Can will get a total of 33 million rupees. In the first year, Seven Three has given 12.2 million rupees twice for paying 3.9 million rupees.
CAN president Chand said in a conversation with Online News on Wednesday that if Seven Three does not come in contact, the contract will be canceled and the association will go to legal treatment for the amount due.
‘We are told to go for bank work. After running away, they are making many excuses and accusations’, Chand said, ‘We are about to complete the competition. After one party escapes, the contract will automatically be cancelled.’
According to Chand, Jatin paid the amount raised from gate money and Nepali sponsors to CAN and invested the rest of the income in Nepal T-20 as a strategy. Seven Three was aiming to collect 3 crores from gate money and 1 to 2 crores from local sponsors. When the ticket price is set at 300 rupees to watch the competition, there are more spectators watching from outside than from inside the stadium. Later, the entrance to the stadium is free. Seven Three could not get a single local sponsor.
Seven Three also proposed to CAN to move the competition to Dubai for 15 days after they did not see a favorable environment in Nepal. Chairman Chand said that they have rejected the proposal made by Jatin, the owner of Seven Three, saying that there have been attacks from the outside, including fixing, and the sports regulatory body Rakhep and the media have not cooperated.
“If the government gives permission, let’s think about it in the next edition. Now we had predicted that the tournament would be completed at the University ground on the predetermined date”, Chand said, “his intentions are wrong.”
He said that he will start the process of canceling the contract by issuing a final notice to Seven Three to get in touch. “Even if the agreement is cancelled, the competition will be organized in a regular and grand manner in the future”, Chand said, “We will take the legal route for the money received by Can. There is a case against him. A complaint has already been lodged at the embassy. We will start the process of blacklisting him in ICC, ACC.’
The day after Jatin left for India, the players refused to play at the University ground saying they were not getting paid. The game was reduced to 9 overs after Can facilitated and promised to get salary from the franchise team.
CAN president Chand has claimed that all the franchise team owners are in contact with him and they are committed to pay the players. Even if one escapes, it does not mean that all escape. The foreign team owners here are willing to pay the players. The players have already started getting money’, he added, ‘due to the late registration of the franchise teams, the salary was not paid on time due to the delay in opening the bank account.’
In January 2077, CAN signed an agreement with Seven Three to run the Nepal T-20 League, but the match could not be played for a long time due to the Corona epidemic. Due to the controversial image of Seven Three, Can’s decision was controversial. After that, the general meeting of CAN held in Dhangadhi last year unanimously approved the agreement with Seven Three with some amendments.
CAN itself decided not to give national recognition to the franchise cricket tournament that was running earlier after organizing the Nepal T-20 League. A petition filed by one of the three Everest Premier League (EPL) in the Supreme Court is under consideration. In the writ, it is alleged that foreign companies have been given the right to conduct the competition without competition.
Chairman Chand has defended this decision of CAN. ‘It doesn’t seem like there is competition for such contracts all over the world. We have not given project rights. Since the Supreme Court did not stop it immediately, I don’t think it is necessary to say much about it,’ said Chand.
He claimed that there was a problem when the second party acted dishonestly in the agreement which was unanimously passed by the general assembly of CAN. He argues that it is the responsibility of the board to implement the decisions of the general meeting. He says, ‘We cannot know people’s intentions by looking at their faces. This decision was made after proper coordination with the company’s documents and ICC. After running away from here, I realized that it was a scam, it had a different purpose.’
He denied the rumors of fixing in Nepal’s league. He said that not a single written complaint has been received in the Anti-Corruption Unit of the ICC so far. “There have been verbal complaints, they have been canceled immediately,” he said.
Rakhep has formed an inquiry committee about allowing foreign players to play without work permits. The committee has got five days to submit the inquiry report. The CAN president said that the problem has arisen because the relevant agencies have delayed giving approval. He has also requested to take it practically.
Read an interview with CAN President Chand
Jatin Ahuwalia, the owner of Seven Three Sports, had a talk with you before going to India?
He said that we cannot withdraw money here, he will go to deposit money. If there is a lot of noise, the people of Can may be suspicious, they said.
They are accusing Cain of staying in India. What is your deal?
The contract will be canceled after one party escapes, this is the arrangement in the contract. Now Nepal T-20 League will be completed by CAN. All the franchise teams are in contact with us. They are ready to pay the players. Some have already started giving. There is no escape.
There is not much money left for him (Seven Three Sports). According to the contract, Can can get 30.9 million rupees this year. Out of that, 1 crore 2 million kilos have been received. I don’t think it will be a problem to collect the remaining money. After escaping, we go to the case against him. We will start the process of blacklisting in International Cricket Council (ICC) and Asian Cricket Council (ACC).
Did Seven Three Sports propose to stop the competition?
He (Jatin Ahuwalia) said that the tournament is under attack from outside to escape, postpone it for 15 days and take it to Dubai and play it. Here, the Sports Council and the media were also saying that they did not support.
But I said no. If the government gives permission, we will take the second edition to Dubai. Now it cannot be taken in the middle of the competition. As soon as we talked, we fell asleep. That is his intention. This is all pretense. That is the only thing to blame the can. If he found evidence of fixing, he should have told the Anti-Corruption Unit.
Jatin is not in touch now?
He was in contact till yesterday evening. He has been complaining to the embassy as a security risk. We received a call from the embassy. What we said is that if we had said that I was at risk by staying in Nepal, we would have informed the police or other agencies. It is just an excuse to say that I became a security risk after reaching India. There was no risk, his intentions were wrong.
What do you mean wrong in intention?
There may be a plan to not pay the money owed to the can. What they had estimated here is that 5 thousand spectators come to watch the game every day. 300 per person is collected from the audience, it is 1.5 million per day, 10,000 will come in the final.
From the amount raised from the audience, the 30.9 million rupees to be paid to CAN this year will be raised. But not a penny was raised from the gate. It was also hoped that a sponsor would come from Nepal, they thought that 1/2 crore rupees would be raised from there as well. It seems that the money received from broadcasting and the main sponsor is a net profit.
What is the main role of Seven Three Sports in this competition? What is in the contract?
CAN is the main organizer of Nepal T-20 League. The right of the match officials, ground staff, anti-corruption and technical committee as well as the competition is ours.
Off-field work belongs to Seven Three Sports. He is responsible for finding a franchise, making an agreement with the franchise, paying the fee to the can, making the franchise pay the player’s salary and so on.
What will you do if Seven Three does not come in contact?
We have an 8-year contract with Seven Three. We have no problem canceling the contract if one party is not honest. However, the competition continues to be organized in a grand manner. There is no problem with that.
How is the subject of remuneration to be received by the players mentioned in the contract?
It is in the contract that the amount according to the contract should be paid to the players during the competition. Apart from that, considering the practicality, it was said to give 15 percent salary before the competition. Due to the delay in opening the bank accounts of the franchise team and all the players, there has also been a problem in the payment of wages. The franchise team registered at the last moment did not open a bank account.
Things like spot fixing have come up, questions have been raised about the performance of the players, the Ministry of Home Affairs has also instructed the police to investigate. How many complaints have been filed in ACU (Anticorruption Unit) about this?
I am not aware of any written complaint so far. The person concerned has been called and warned or alerted about the verbal complaints. It has been sidelined immediately. There have been proposals for some fixing. You should also inform about the proposal of fixing. If he does not, he is considered guilty. ACU is also sending reports to the ICC on a daily basis regarding verbal complaints.
You entrusted the project to Seven Three without competition. There were also disputes within the CAN Working Committee. Looking at it now, don’t you think it was wrong to give Seven Three?
It doesn’t seem like there is competition for such contracts all over the world. In the earlier competitions, there was no selection through competition. Even though the case is in the Supreme Court now, since the judiciary did not stop it immediately, I do not think it is necessary to quote much about it.
We cannot know a person’s intentions by looking at his face. There is not much information about the character. After looking at the company’s documents, it was agreed with the ICC and unanimously passed by the general assembly of CAN. It is the duty of the board to implement the decisions of the general meeting.
As the chairman, don’t you feel that there is a weakness in choosing this company?
I didn’t realize it until now, but after running away, I realized that it was a joke, its inner intention was different. No matter how wrong the intention is, one thing is for sure that he will now have to pay for the can. There is nothing else.
